Ezekiel's Dry Bones
by ayziks
Summary: A Judeo-Christian fantasy based on the scripture concerning Ezekiel's encounter with the resurrection of the dry bones and the miracle of what happens to one of those warriors.


Scriptual background: The Valley of Dry Bones – from the Book of Ezekiel:

37 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. '

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Soereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD. '"

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Ezkiel and the Lord stood before the throng of warriors, and they disappeared as the Lord took him back to fulfill his prophesies with the people of Israel.

But the throng of ten thousand stood in the desolate valley. A vast number stood together, but each and every one was now alone with himself and his thoughts. More than half knew whom they had seen was the Lord Himself on the hillside with the Prophet, because they had seen him first hand in heaven as He welcomed them into His realm.

The rest knew of Him as chance encounter, as they were judged and sentenced to an eternity of suffering for their sin. That was the shock to most of the condemned sinners. It was not that they had murdered, or pillaged, or committed suicide, or raped, or coveted, or sworn, but it was because they had unbelief in the very Almighty who sentenced them to eternal punishment. That was the one unforgivable sin.

As hot as it was standing naked in the hot desert sun, for those who had been rescued from being condemned for all time, it was like a cool breeze compared to Sheol. They had experienced death in the extreme. They had been cut off from loved ones, cut off from any relief, cut off from any remaining chance of salvation, and were alone in their eternity of suffering. That's what hell was.

Every one of the ten thousand wondered, "I am alive again. What do I do now?"

For most, they went immediately to their knees, and prayed to the Lord, who had restored them.

Not one picked up a sword from among the thousands that littered the ancient battlefield. What was the use? The reason for fighting was long gone – even forgotten. To kill again or fight and be killed again was irrelevant. They had been dead once already in a cause long forgotten. They knew the pain of being gutted or gored or beheaded, and wished not to experience that again. They were all brothers in death, regardless of where they ended up in their eternal home of heaven or hell.

It was a second chance the Lord had given them all. It was chance to right their wrongs. Ten thousand men had the chance to make the right choice.

Some did not. Some could not handle life again. That they were alive again was simply too much to bear. They made their decision in the battle itself or even before, and expected to live with it for eternity – good or bad. Several ran off and jumped off the nearby steep cliff, to end it again. This time for sure. Those poor souls didn't care where they ended up, as long as it wasn't here, burdened with the grim reminder of how they left this earth the first time.

Some chose to go home, wherever home was.

It was grueling. They were all ill-prepared. No food, no drink, no clothes. Many wondered why the Lord had done what He did to cause them to live again to perhaps perish in the desert. Some did, mercifully giving up their spirits again begging forgiveness for their weakness or cursing a second reliving of their original fates.

Others were more resourceful, figuring out how to live off what the land was giving them – what the Lord had given them – to survive. They too understood this was a test, and were bound and determined to make it this time.

For some who didn't make the right choice the first time, to stand alive from the valley of bones was their salvation, and they were welcomed to their celestial home. They realized that their second life was indeed a test. And they passed the second time, rejoicing with loved ones who missed them and longed for their warriors to join with them in their own eternities in heaven.

As warriors, most of the restored fallen were young men. The ones with that determined drive wanted to become old men, with children and grandchildren, and wives. Some had left all of that or been forced to fight, taken from their families.

One in particular, Umtara, ignored the plight or blessings of the others around him, and grabbed what few rags were left unrotted from the ground. He tried to separate himself from the thousands of personal revelations going on around him with both conviction and dismay to concentrate on what he needed to do, knowing he now had a second chance.

He had been run through with a long sword trying to save a comrade, a dear friend, from death. He had not succeeded. He was a conscript, ripped away from his young girlfriend to serve in an unpopular cause by a tyrant who thought he owned each and every able bodied man in his country to fight against the Israelites to bring them down, to make them less men of God and more subject to the king who thought he was better than God himself.

In punishment the Lord had destroyed his army right here in this valley, but at the cost of many God fearing men to do so.

Umtara had come to respect the Israelites and their single God, whom they served because they wanted to, not because they had to. He respected that, and began to learn more and more about that God who commanded loyalty because of the promise of forgiveness and eternal life rather than revenge or retribution or gold or women as the ultimate reward. It was abstract. It seemed unattainable, but it was compelling beyond any lifetime only temporal measure of reward: eternal life with those you loved. How totally different. He fought because he had to, or be killed by superiors for disobedience. But in this battle he hoped to be free of their whips and chains and punishments.

He had prayed for the defeat of his own army at the hands of the Israelites so that he might be captured and join them.

It was not to be, but as he bled out so many years ago, he forgave those who slayed him. He got his reward, but it was not enough. He was alone in heaven, as he was the first of anyone in his family who so believed. Somehow his girl, his unborn children, and other family members had to be of the same conviction so that when their time came, they would go together. It was a work left undone because of his early and untimely death.

He knelt and praised the new God who saved him had given him a second chance at life to do what he dreamed of. The angels with whom he had communed knew of this quest had spoken of it, and the Lord Himself knew of the prayer from the many times Umtara had offered it.

It was a miracle that he had the chance now to do what he had prayed for. Miracles he learned came in many ways.

He collected as much of what he needed to get out of the desert – succulent cactus for energy and water, a small knife for protection, sturdy shoes that were left among the debris of the fallen armies, and clothing and protective headgear especially.

For miles and day he trudged forward to his home. Unerringly he knew where to go. Every mile that he was taken by force by his army commanders he knew exactly the way back.

He stood on the edge of town. It was bigger than he remembered. Umtara worried that he had been dead for centuries, and there would be none left who remembered him or the cause he fought for, or any family left that would care.

He went first to Esther's home, his beloved that he was ripped away from. Esther was a young woman of barely 16 at their parting, but the two were soul mates since childhood. The village shaman had blessed them long ago, knowing they were meant for each other. He prayed that the shaman had seen a vision provided from the Lord - then unknown to himself.

He knocked on the rim of the ox skin tent that he remembered was her parents' home. The flap was flipped back.

An old woman poked her head out. Thinking it was her mother, he asked, "I seek Esther."

The elderly woman said, "I am her."

But then the dawn of realization came to the woman, "Umtara! You live!"

"Esther?" he asked both incredulously and with disappointment due to her extreme old age.

But age didn't matter. He saw the spark of love for him remaining in her eyes. The old woman was indeed Esther! The years were so very long, but they were kind to her. Beneath the long white hair and the wrinkles, it was really her.

Her eyes widened as big as saucers, and she reached desperately, caressing his face and beard, "And you, Umtara, not a day have you aged! And how is it this miracle has happened for a young Umtara to comfort me in my old age?"

She reached for her long lost love with both arms. He caught her and he spun her around carefully but joyfully.

"Praise the Lord!" Umtara called out. "I have not been dead too long. I live to see you again my love."

"You were dead, Umtara?"

Umtara explained, "The Lord God of the Israelites, the only true God, who answers prayers and grants miracles for those who believe, gave me the vision and the miracle of life a second time, so that I might see you again."

"How did it happen, Umtara?" she asked, but careful not to provoke painful memories in him.

"I was slain by an Israelite's sword, within months of being taken from you that terrible summer."

Esther scoffed, shaking her head, "You were slain by a soldier of the Israelites' God, and yet you believed in Him – the One who let you be slain by a soldier of His own?"

"Yes. I learned from my enemy that it was more important to believe and forgive and gain eternal life, than to wallow in rage and die forever with no hope but in this world alone. This is what their God gives that no god of ours can."

"I have experienced that God, Umtara. Let me tell you."

They entered her tent and sat next to the fire within her dwelling, holding hands as they did as teens.

"I had a vision - given to me unexplained by a being of brilliant white light - to wait and you would return. I have waited for seventy years, Umtara. Today I am blessed. The shamans had no explanation how it happened, but it did, and I believed...I believed, Umtara. And here you sit with me, my love, unchanged from the day you were taken from me. I know now that it is because of that Israelite Lord of which you speak."

They sat and kissed tenderly, reaching across the years as if they had never been separated a single day.

Umtara spoke gravely, "I must speak to your husband of this. I wish to remain your friend and I will live again in the village but never sin or covet you and yours and your happiness. I will even leave if you so wish. The Lord has taught me this."

"I have no husband Umtara. The shining being told me to always to wait, chaste and unmarried, despite all hardships."

Umtara was floored, "All these years, you trusted a vision from a God who you knew not?"

"Isn't that what true love is all about, Umtara? And what your new Lord teaches? Trust and belief in the unknown and unseen?

Everything she said was true. Without the scriptures in her hand, and no rabbi to teach her, she knew the truth. He hugged her tightly.

"Marry me, marry me now. Just as we promised so long ago."

"Let the few years we have together be blessed my love. Of course I will!"

He grabbed her by the hand, rushed to the shaman's tent, and told the crazy old man exactly what to say to bless them in the eyes of the Lord. The shaman was too dumbstruck with the sight of a resurrected Umtara to argue.

They spent their first night in her tent together, loving as any young couple would, knowing that while they had the joy of each other, they would remain childless. Age made no difference to them. Being reunited, both with each other and the new Lord that Umtara and Esther knew now, it was still happiness for them beyond all measure.

They slept well. In the morning he turned to her, and started to kiss her awake. He pulled back, startled beyond all measure.

"Esther! Look!" he exclaimed.

She pulled a small broken mirror from her belongings. The image she saw in the mirror was a petite, soft skinned young woman, with flawless mocha skin, and black, shining long hair. Her eyes were coal black, with dark eyebrows, soft supple pink lips, and lovely eyelashes. She was exactly as she was at age 16, the very day that Umtara was ripped from her to fight as a reluctant warrior.

"Praise God!" uttered and astonished Esther.

From Ezekiel's encounter with God in the dry valley and restoration of the dry bones, came one more miracle which occurred in one set of those dry bones who rose from that permanent resting place. A young couple's love that was meant to be was rekindled from old. Even in a country where the Lord was unknown, Umtara and Esther believed, raising many sons and daughters who themselves believed, and lived in the Grace of the Lord in the long lives they had on this earth and in the fellowship of the Lord forever in the day each passed from this earth.

Umtara's prayers of not ever being alone in heaven were answered.

The Lord smiled upon his brother Umtara and sister Esther and all their begotten.


End file.
